DAMNATIO MEMORIAE: CONTEMPORARY CONDEMNATION OF MEMORY

PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/dac.25913
Keywords:
Memory Oblivion Condemnation of Memory Art and Memory Florou Ilia- Georgiadou
Zoe Georgiadou
Vaso FLorou
Ifigeneia Ilia - Georgiadou
Abstract
Mnemosyne in Greek mythology was the daughter of Gaea and Uranus, and mother of the nine Muses, whose father was Zeus. She was the personification of memory and was connected in this way to the Arts, as artists recalled primordial memories to draw inspiration for their creations. “Damnatio memoriae”, the Roman punishment meaning condemnation of memory, was an official sanction, successful in wiping out any remembrance of an individual who was convicted of being a tyrant, a traitor, or another sort of enemy of the state. The images of such condemned persons had to be destroyed, their names erased from inscriptions, and every element concerning their public presence was purged. In some cases, the residence of the condemned could be destroyed, and if the person was already dead, his grave was ruined and his last will nullified. Nowadays, the condemnation of memory could be connected to a series of incidents selected to be erased from the public conscience as if they have never happened, although they represent historical or even ordinary events – genocides, wars, migration flows, gender-based violence and others. This paper focuses on the contemporary condemnation of memory using Art as a methodological tool. We argue that art represents a way to investigate current circumstances that aim to wipe out collective memory. We probe these expressive forms that derive from historically transformed roles and compile these facts that are consigned to oblivion.
Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles

The copyright for articles in this journal is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use (with the exception of the non-granted right to make derivative works) with proper attribution for non-commercial uses (licence Creative Commons 4.0). EKT/NHRF retains the worldwide right to reproduce, display, distribute, and use articles published in DAC in all formats and media, either separately or as part of collective works for the full term of copyright. This includes but is not limited to the right to publish articles in an issue of the Journal, copy and distribute individual reprints of the articles, authorize reproduction of articles in their entirety in another EKT/NHRF publication, and authorize reproduction and distribution of articles or abstracts thereof by means of computerized retrieval systems.

DAC journal considers all submitted artwork on the condition author(s) confirm that third-party intellectual property rights are not violated in any way.
Author(s) are responsible for securing permissions to publish copyrighted material, such as photographs and other artwork and for paying any fees involved. Production of an article will not begin until the editor has received all relevant permissions.
The copyright for published articles in Design | Arts | Culture is retained by the author(s). By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles can be used freely, with proper attribution, for educational and other non-commercial purposes.

Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
A Dictionary of the Social Sciences (UNESCO), (1972), [in Greek], Vol.2, Athens: Nikas-Tegopoulos Publications.
Ansermet, Fr., Magistretti, P., (2015). Ta ichni tis Empeirias, Neuroniki plastikotita kai i Synantisi tis Viologias me tin Psychanalysi [Traces of Experience, Neural Plasticity and the Meeting of Biology and Psychoanalysis. Vakaki, V., (trans.) Hrakleio: Crete University Press. [Original Title: À Chacun son Cerveau: Plasticité Neuronale et Inconscient]. Paris: Jacob.
Assmann, J., (2017). Politismiki mneme: Grafi, Anamnese kai Politiki Taftotita stous Proimous Anoterous Politismous [Cultural Memory and
Early Civilisation: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination]. Panayiotopoulos, D., (trans.) Herakleio: Crete University Press.
Augé, M., (1998). Les Forms de l’ Oubli [The Forms of Oblivion]. Paris: Rivages Posch Editions.
Baudrillard, J., (1990). La Transparence du Mal: essai sur les phénomènes extremes [The Transparency Of Evil: Essays On Extreme Phenomena]. Paris: Editions Galilée.
Bauman, Z., (2000). Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Benjamin, W., (1982). Gesammelte Schriften, Das Passagen-Werk, [The Arcade Project]. Tiedemann, Rolf (edit.). Vol. V. Franfurt.
Buck-Morss, S., (2011). I dialektiki tou Vlepein: O Walter Benjamin kai to sxedio ergasias peri Stoon. [The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project].
Burström, M., (2009). Selective Remembrance: Memories of a Second War Refugee Camp in Sweden, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 1502-7678,42 (2), p.159-172.
Chaniotis, A., (2017). Paichnidia Mnemes [Games with Memory]. In Assmann, J., (2017), ibid. p. xvi-xxiv.
Foucault, M., (1982). I Istoria tis Sexualikotitas: I Voulisi gia Gnosi [The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge], Vol. I, Rozaki, G., (trans.) Athens: Rappa Publications. [Original Title: L’ Histoire de la Sexualité: la Volonté de Savoire].
Foucault, M., (1989). I Istoria tis Sexualikotitas: I Chrisi ton Idonon. [The History of Sexuality: The Use of Pleasure]. Vol. II, Konstantinides, G., (trans.). Athens.: Rappa Publications. [Original Title: L’ Histoire de la Sexualité: L’ Usage des plaisirs].
Habermas, J., (1995). The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. Ι & ΙΙ. Cambridge Polity Press.
Halbwachs, M., (1992). On Collective Memory. Coser, L., A., (edit. and trans.). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Hesiod. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica. with an English Translation by Hugh, G., E., W., (1914). Theogony. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. Trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White.
Hoare, Q., & Nowell-Smith, G., (eds. & trans.), (1999). Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. London: ElecBook
Ibrahim, Y., (2018). Transacting Memory in the Digital Age: Modernity, Fluidity and Immateriality. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 11, 453-464. 455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0222-2.
Le Goff, J., (1998). Istoria kai Mneme [History and Memory]. Koumpourlis, G., (trans.) Athens: Nefeli. [Original Title: Histoire et Memoire]. Paris: Gallimard Editions.
Masoura, E., & Kargopoulos, F., (2008). Mnemes tou Polemou kai oi Polemoi tis Mnemes [Memories of War and the Wars of Memory], in Van Boeschoten, R., T., Vervenioti, E., Voutyra, V., & Dalkavoukis (ed.), Mnemes kai Lethe tou Ellinikou Emfyliou Polemou [Memories and Oblivion of the Greek Civil War]. Thessaloniki: Epikentro.
Pourkos, M., (2017) (edit.). To Soma os Topos Viomaton, Taftotiton kai Koinonikon Noimaton [The body, as a Place of Experiences, Identities and Social Meanings]. Athens: Okto.
Simondon, M., (1982). La Mémoire et l’ Oubli dans la Pensée Grecque Jusqu’à la Fin du Ve Siècle Avant J.-C. [Memory and Oblivion in Ancient Greek Thought Until the End of Vth Century Before J.-C.]. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Stavrides, S., (2006). Space-Time Relationship in the Collective Consciousness. In Stavrides, Stavros, (edit.) Mneme kai Empiria tou Horou [Memory and experience of the space]. Athens: Alexandria Publications, pp. 13-41.
Terzoglou, N., I., (2006). Istoria, Mneme, Mnemeio [History, Memory, Memorial]. In Stavrides, Stavros, (edit.) Mneme kai Empiria tou Horou [Memory and experience of the space]. Athens: Alexandria Publications, pp. 261-291.
Vaiou, D., (2009). Taftotites/Eterotites Gynaikon stin Poli [Identities/Otherness of Women in the City]. In Lada, S., (edit.) Meta-topiseis: Fylo, Diafora kai Astikos Horos [Displacements: Gender, Difference and Urban Space]. Athens: Future, pp. 143-153.
Vallianos, P., (2002). Syneidisi, Glossa kai Istoriki Zoe: Ermineftikes Prosegiseis stin Filosofia ton Dyo Teleftaion Aionon [Conscience, Language and Historical Life: Interpretative Approaches to the Philosophy of the Last Two Centuries]. Athens: Poreia.
Vernant, J.,P., (1989). Mythos kai skepsi stin Archaea Ellada, Meros A [Myth and Thought in Ancient Greece, Part 1]. Synchroni Archaeognostiki
Vivliothiki [Modern Library of the Ancient World], Georgoudi, S., (trans.). Athens: Zacharopoulos.